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DISCOURSE 



DEATH 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



DISCOURSE 



ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



president of the United $iatts, 



PREACHED I?i THE SPRING GARDEN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, 



BY THE PASTOR, 



Rev. MORRIS C. SUTPHEN. 



APHIL 16th, 1865. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

JAS. B. KODGERS, PRINTER, 52 & U NORTH SIXTH STREET. 
1805. 




,8 



Philadelphia, Sabbath, April 16th, 1865. 
Rev. Morris C. Sutphen : 

Dear Pastor— The satisfaction and as we hope the profit, with which we have just listen 1 
to this morning's sermon upon the death of our President, prompts us to request of you, for 
ourselves and others, a copy for publication, that the benefit may bo more widely spread, 
and the discourse preserved. 

Respectfully and truly yours, 



william a. duff, 
chas. henderson, 
john Mcdowell, 
h. h. shillingford, 
gilbert combs, 
thomas pollock, 



GILBERT PARKER, 
JOHN WIEGAND, Jr., 
S. G. DENNISSON, 
II. B. AKRISON, 
II. D. GREGORY, 
B. L HERKNESS. 



Philadelphia, April 17th, 1865. 

Gentlemen — Although perhaps justice to myself would dictate the withholding from print 
of a discourse prepared in a few hours of great confusion, yet I cheerfully consent to its 
publication, as my grateful tribute to the distinguished worth of our Martyr President, and 
my humble contribution to the consolation of an afflicted people. 

With sincere regard, yours, 

M. C. SUTPHEN. 
To Messrs. William A. Duff, 

Charles Henderson, 
and others. 



DISCOURSE 



"Thou Destroyest the Hope of Max." — Job xiv. 10. 

This world is a world of vicissitude. The joys of 
to-day and the tears of to-morrow are life's constant 
interchanges. Of this truth we have had sad expe- 
rience .as-a people within the last few hours. But 
yesterday our hearts were bounding with glee, to-day 
our hearts are breaking with grief. But yesterda}^ our 
faces were brightened with gladness, to-day they are 
darkened with sadness. But yesterday our houses 
were decked in triumph, to-day they are draped in 
trouble. But yesterday our bells rang merry pagans, 
to-day they toll mournful dirges. But yesterday our 
banners, full high advanced, floated gayly, to-day they 
fall gloomily at half-mast. A funeral pall has sud- 
denly settled upon city and country, like that which 
shrouded Egypt on the memorable night of the uni- 
versal slaughter of her first-born — from the first-born 
of Pharaoh on the throne, to the first-born of the 



6 DISCOURSE OX THE DEATH OF 

captive in the dungeon, and the first-horn of the cat- 
tle in the stall. In one short hour silence and sorrow, 
darkness and distress, weeping and wailing, have sup- 
planted light and life, happiness and hope, elation and 
exultation, in the hamlets, and homes, and hearts 
throughout the land. 

What has so suddenly dashed our cup of joy, changed 
our feastings into fastings, our congratulations into 
commiserations? The answer is too well known to 
you. " Death is come into our windows, and is entered 
into our palaces." " The beauty of Israel is slain upon 
the high places: the mighty is fallen." The Presi- 
dent of the United States, most suddenly and unex- 
pectedly, most cowardly and cruelly, has been cut 
down by the hand of an assassin' imiammam&mm. 

And it is no wonder that the death of the nation's 
Chief Magistrate sends a tide of sorrow over the land, 
and that houses hitherto uninvaded by the desolations 
of this desolating war, are now filled with grief. The 
loss of the loved head of a family, makes many 
mourners, — the loss of the loved head of a church 
more — the loss of the loved head of a State still more; 
but, more than all, the loss of the loved head of a na. 
tion. 

But it is not simply because a respected and regarded 
Chief Magistrate is so suddenly dashed from the high 
place of power, that the people mourn. This heavy 
blow we have felt once and again before. Two Pre- 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. / 

sidents have been removed while still in office, since 
the foundation of the Republic. General William 
Henry Harrison was called away after a month's ser- 
vice; General Zachary Taylor, after a little more than 
a year's. Both these removals were the occasion of 
wide-spread sorrow, and especially that of the former, 
"in whose thoughts, in death as in life, the happiness 
of his country was uppermost." But without aught 
of disrespect or injustice to either of these worthy 
dead, it may safely be said, this people mourns to-day 
as never before. And the reason is, that not only the 
head, but the hope of the nation is destroyed. 

Abraham Lincoln was the human hope of the 
country. This is too evident to be questioned. The 
man who disputes it, shows either pitiable ignorance, 
or still more pitiable prejudice. His original nomina- 
tion to the Presidency, intimated that in him were 
thought, by a large portion of the representative men 
of the nation, to be the qualities needed for the safe 
conduct of the already troubled affairs of State, while 
his subsequent election indicated that their judgment 
was confirmed by the majority of the people. But espe- 
cially his renomination, almost by acclamation, and his 
reelection by a vote so overwhelming as to be almost 
unprecedented, were evidence that on him, above all his 
countrymen, rested the popular confidence. The painful 
solicitude, also, which filled our hearts, on the occasion 
of his first and second inauguration, argues that to him 



8 DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF 

all eyes were looking. And if further testimony to this 
point were needed, we might find it in the anxiety, and 1 
may almost say alarm, which was experienced when the 
recent infirmity of his health was reported, and fur- 
ther when his departure for the front was heralded, 
and still further when his visit to the rebel capital was 
telegraphed. And the sensible relief of the people when 
it was lately learned that he had safely returned to 
Washington, and the general protest against the future 
exposure of a life felt to be so important to the well be- 
ing, if not also to the being of the nation, evince that 
from him was the expectation of the country. The 
prayers, too, for his preservation, which have ascended 
continually since his first investiture with the robes of 
office, and with increased fervor and frequency since 
his second, show that to him, above all others of our 
leading men, we were looking for a happy termina- 
tion of our troubles. Truly, from the beginning of 
our peril, without interruption, and without change, 
except by way of increase, the confidence of the coun- 
try has centred in Abraham Lincoln. 

And the reasons why our trust so largely reposed in 
him are obvious. One undoubtedly was his successful 
conduct of off/- ({(fairs during the four years of difficulty 
recently ended. For, recall the troubles that beset him 
at the time of his entrance upon office. The capital 
swarmed with traitors, and approach to it was barred 
by armed assassins lurking for his life. Secretly 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



was lie hurried at the dead hour of night, through 
the bullets and bowie knives of his would-be mur- 
derers, to Washington. Protected by hastily sum- 
moned detachments of soldiery, he was safely inducted 
into power. And then, how many and great the diffi- 
culties that surrounded him. The Southern country 
plotting, perfecting, and performing treason; the North- 
ern arsenals stripped of munitions of war, the navy scat- 
tered to the four quarters of the globe, the treasury bank- 
rupt; truly, all seemed lost, and lost beyond recovery. 
And yet, how bravely did he breast the billows of de- 
struction that beat around him. How soon were 
troops hurried to the front, ships of wood and iron ex- 
temporized, and armed rebellion met by arms. And 
how admirably, in spite of many dark disasters, m 
which he stood dauntless among the daunted, have 
our loyal legions swept state after state, until now or- 
ganized resistance to the Government has almost va- 
nished Thanks to God, Abraham Lincoln was per- 
mitted to see the beginning of the end, if not the end 
itself and himself to telegraph the downfall of the 
stronghold of the rebellion, and himself to enter it 
amid the wild demonstrations of delight of its long 
dragooned, but now delivered people. Thanks to God, 
that he was permitted to see the surrender of the 
army in which treason specially trusted and boasted, 
and to order the suspension of conscription through- 
out the land. Thanks to God, he was permitted to 



10 DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF 

lead the people he loved to the verge of the promised 
land, and himself to behold it, if not to enter it. Truly, 
as, in token of vindicated federal authority through- 
out the land, the national banner ascended the staff, 
from which, just four years before, it had been lowered 
in Charleston harbor, he might have said — " Lord, 
now, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine 
eyes have seen thy salvation." 

And not only the eminent success with which he 
conducted the affairs of the nation, but also the emi- 
nent qualities which he manifestly possessed, led the 
people to repose their confidence in him. Time will 
permit me only baldly to enumerate the more promi- 
nent of these. One that stands out conspicuously, was 
his wisdom. President Lincoln was not, in the ordi- 
nary acceptation of the phrase, a man of learning. 
He made no pretension to high literary accomplish- 
ments. Nor was he an expert in the dark sinuosities 
of diplomacy. Neither has he been regarded as spe- 
cially proficient in statesmanship, or deeply versed in 
constitutional law. But if he had read little, he had 
thought much. If he possessed small learning, he pos- 
sessed great wisdom. Especially wonderful, was his 
insight into human nature. And he proved his saga- 
city in the men he called to be his counsellors; as also 
in the measures he originated, perfected, and executed. 
The manner, too, in which he moderated the bitter 
passions of opposing partisans, and mediated between 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 11 

the warring factions of friendly supporters, and edu- 
cated the slow-moving masses up to the desire and the 
determination, of the perpetuity of the Union, and the 
universal prevalence of liberty, evidence his eminent 
skill. His original, unique, aphoristic state papers, 
also, which, sent on their mission at just the oppor- 
tune moment, so wonderfully harmonized sentiment 
and action in our midst, will be respected and regarded 
by an admiring posterity, as eminently products and 
paragons of wisdom. No wonder that an insight so 
keen, commanded the confidence of the country. 

Another distinguishing quality of the late Presi- 
dent, and which made him justly the hope of the na- 
tion, was his singular honesty. That he was eminently 
an honest man, may be asserted in any presence, with- 
out the fear of successful contradiction. In all the 
lying lampoons invented against him during the heat 
of his first and second presidential campaigns, I do not 
remember to have seen any question even, of his up- 
rightness. Though engaged the greater part of his 
life in a profession easily perverted to dishonesty, 
all the testimonies that have ever reached my eyes 
and ears, unite in declaring him to have been upright, 
if not to a fault, at least to his loss. Instances could 
be produced, in which he discouraged litigation on the 
part of his clients, at the expense of profitable employ- 
ment. Truly, if an honest man is the noblest work 
of God, the dispassionate judgment of mankind will 



12 DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF 

enroll Abraham Lincoln among the princes of the 
race. 

And if he had honesty as a citizen, he had integrity 
as a ruler. In all his official acts he showed most 
praiseworthy disinterestedness. I am not aware that 
he has been charged with corruption even by his most 
irresponsible detractors. And if such accusations have 
been preferred, I am sure they have not been accre- 
dited by any, at all acquainted with his character and 
conduct. We can almost as well conceive of his 
plunging a dagger into the nation's heart, as traffick- 
ing in the nation's necessities. And as he most rigidly 
avoided all bribes, so he ever shunned private par- 
tialities and party cabals. Whatever may be imputed 
to others high in position, it cannot be charged against 
President Lincoln, that he was influenced in the per- 
formance of the duties of his office, by considerations 
either of person, pelf, or power. No man among his 
illustrious predecessors, directed the affairs of state 
with less regard to self, and his name will live in his- 
tory as that of a man of unimpeachable integrity. No 
marvel that from such a character the country derived 
high expectation. 

Another eminent quality of the lamented dead, 
which made him so largely the nation's delight and 
dependence, was his broad-hearted benevolence. In- 
deed, he was by common consent kind to a fault; and 
it may well be questioned whether to his overflow- 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 13 

ing tenderness, we owe not indirectly, our sore be- 
reavement. He seemed incapable of revenge or ha- 
tred, or even suspicion. Look at the lenity he has 
exhibited towards treason. Verily, the leaders of this 
most atrocious rebellion, at whose instigation this crime, 
unprecedented in our history, has been perpetrated, 
could not possibly have suffered a larger loss, than the 
life of Abraham Lincoln. Never did fiendish malig- 
nity more signally overreach itself, than in this dire 
deed. He, who of all men high in authority, was dis- 
posed to temper mercy with justice in the treatment 
of rebels, and whose clemency had proceeded so far as 
to fill with fears the hearts of patriots, has been by 
their own suicidal hands wrested from them. Not 
only recently, but constantly, throughout the war, he 
lias manifested a spirit of the utmost possible kind- 
ness. At the peril of popularity with his own party, 
at the risk of renomination for his high position, he 
proposed a plan of reconstruction most gracious to the 
revolted sections of the country. And in the famous 
interview which he condescended to hold with the 
self-appointed commissioners of the rebel authorities, 
he intimated his readiness to exercise all the leniency, 
which fidelity to the interests intrusted to him would 
allow. Yea more, the very last speech he delivered 
was a plea for his liberal plan of state, instead of ter- 
ritorial, reconstruction. Rarely, if ever, did a human 
heart beat with purer, kindlier impulses; and no won- 



14 DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF 

der that the nation loved him, and looked to him, as 
to no other functionary;, civil or military, for the re- 
duction of the rebellion of Southern hearts, as well as 
the rebellion of Southern hands. 

The only other prominent characteristic of Presi- 
dent Lincoln which I can, on the present occasion, no- 
tice, and which made him the hope of the country, 
was his dependence on Almighty God. I do not mean 
positively to assert that he was a man of piety; al- 
though from testimony, direct and indirect, I have, 
months since, been led to believe him to be a Chris- 
tian. Such, too, it is asserted on evidence which can- 
not be questioned, was his own hope. In answer to 
the inquiry, propounded by a clergyman on behalf of 
himself and others, whether he loved the Lord Jesus 
Christ, he is reported to have replied — "I trust I can 
say I do;" and to have dated his saving change from 
the solemn scene of the consecration of the National 
Cemetery at Gettysburg. And while my heart bleeds 
most at the thought that he should have received the 
fatal blow within the walls of a theatre, yet when I 
remember that lie was drawn thither reluctantly, and 
from bis characteristic kindly desire to mitigate the 
disappointment of (he crowd collected in promise of 
the presence of the absent Lieutenant-General, I find 
it not impossible to think of him among the blood- 
bought throng of martyrs — himself a, martyr in one of 
the holiest, causes that ever demanded the sacrifice of 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. I", 

human life. But whether he was ap - ss r of piety 
or not. he was unquestionably a believer in prayer. 
Indeed, it is asserted that it w g his -iistoin to spend 
an early hour each morning in private devotion. And 
in consistency with, and corroboration of this testi- 
mony, is the value he undoubtedly attached to the 
supplications of G l'a people. Who has forgotten the 
remarkable request he made of his fellow-citizens 

_ field, on leaving them for his perilous mission 

-Pray for ineT And what evident satisfaction and 
support did he derive from the assurances, from time to 
time made to him. of his interest in the prayers of the 
church. Moreover, how frequently did he summon 
the nation to supplication, and how frequently acknow- 
ledge the presiding provide: d. In his very last 
speech, he reminded his hearers of the hand of the Lord 
in the late signal victories vouchsafed to our arms. 
and gave not I he appointment Thanks- 
Truly, it was natural that a Christian 
people should repose their confidence in one wh> 
posed his confident And we can well un- 
derstand how the removal of one. : this emi- 
nen< 'rh. added eminence in goodness, in inte- 

sdom, id in experience of the 

the conduct of troubled affairs of stai as the destrue- 

i of the nations hope. N thisseem- 

ss,li v.- hearted men, as well as tin) - 

hear s, swell as melt 



16 DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF 

to tears, and that doubt, and despondency, and dis- 
may, should depict themselves on all faces throughout 
the land. 

But should we yield to discouragement and despair, 
because of this dark dispensation? No, no, no. 
"Why art thou cast down, my soul? and why art 
thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I 
shall yet praise him, who is the health of my counte- 
nance and my God." Though the human arm on which 
we fondly leaned has been paralyzed in death, the God 
who gave us Abraham Lincoln still lives. That God 
who has led us thus far through our Red Sea of blood, 
still reigns secure and supreme on the throne of the 
universe, doing his will in the armies of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of earth. And let us remem- 
ber that it is He who has destroyed the nation's hope. 
Not chance, not fatality, not the malignity even of the 
miserable murderer, on whose memory will fall the 
maledictions of mankind, and who will be inevitably 
doomed to an immortality of infamy : but God has done 
this deed. And let us believe that he has dealt with 
us in mercy. Let us rest confident that there is light 
in this dark dispensation. 

"Good, when he gives, supremely good, 
Nor less when he denies ; 
E'en crosses, from his sovereign hand. 
Are blessings in disguise." 

It is his province and prerogative to bring good 
out of evil; and how often has he turned the gloomi- 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 17 

ness of his people into gladness. How perplexing the 
providence which removed Moses, the distinguished 
leader and lawgiver of Israel, just as the chosen peo- 
ple were about to enter the land of promise, and en- 
counter the many and mighty tribes of the Canaanites, 
intrenched in cities walled to heaven. And yet the 
Lord raised up one fully equal to the emergency, 
who led the sacred hosts across the Jordan, and from 
victory to victory, till the whole land was possessed. 
And so, though our beloved President, after leading 
an afflicted people through the wilderness of war to the 
border of the promised land of peace, has been cut 
down, God is able and willing to endow his successor 
with the qualities needed to give them entrance into 
the long-desired Canaan of rest. Yea, more. Was not 
the President's death necessary to the nation's life ? 
Were we not leaning upon an arm of flesh, forgetful 
of the ever-living God, indulging — though in a diffe- 
rent form — the very sin of idolatry which brought 
upon us the woes through which we have passed? 
Was his removal not necessary to turn the eyes of the 
people upwards to the everlasting hills, whence alone 
all help must come ? Could God have consummated 
our salvation from our pains and perils in consistency 
with his glory and our good, without breaking this 
strong staff upon which we were leaning? If he had 
been spared to complete our deliverance, would not 
much of the glory due to the Creator have been ac- 



18 DISCOURSE ON THE DEATH OF 

corded to the creature; and has not the Most High, 
in destroying our human hope, answered the prayers 
which from the beginning the church has offered, that 
He would so signally interpose for our rescue, that all 
should acknowledge his agency and ascribe to him the 
praise due his great name? Do we not feel that now 
we are cast upon the Lord; and are we not prepared 
to say, when brought out of our straits into a large 
and wealthy place, "Behold what God hath wrought!" 
Besides, is it not possible that the overflowing love 
of our late President would have made concessions to 
rebels, calculated to imperil the peace and safety of 
the nation, and to tarnish the fair fame with which he 
will now descend to posterity? Is it not probable 
that the very humane policy he desired so much to 
inaugurate, would have proved prejudicial to the per- 
petuity of union and liberty, and that it was necessary 
that one, fresh from hand-to-hand grapple with trea- 
son, and familiar with its fiendish spirit, should be 
placed in power, so to punish rebellion, that it should 
never again raise its accursed head in the land? Is it 
not reasonable to suppose that God, having shielded 
the life of our loved President from the long meditated 
blow of his murderer, until he had finished the parti- 
cular work for which he was fitted, until he had seen 
the banner of the Union elevated in triumph over both 
the cradle and the capital of secession, took him up 
to the higher duties and delights of the heavenly world, 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 19 

that one educated among the Southern people, well 
acquainted with their peculiar prejudices, and already 
largely experienced in the work of reconstruction, 
might accomplish this delicate and difficult task? 1 
trust, I believe, it is so. I hear the Lord speaking to 
the present incumbent of the Presidential chair as lie 
did to Joshua — "Moses, my servant, is dead; now. 
therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this 
people, unto the land which I do give to them, even 
to the children of Israel. There shall not any man be 
able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as 
I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: 1 will not 
fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of good 
courage ; for unto this people shaft thou divide for an 
inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers 
to give them. 1 ' 

There is then no reason for despair, or despondency. 
or even discouragement, because of this seemingly dark 
dispensation. On this black cloud we may already 
behold the rainbow of promise. Let us only persevere 
in "loosing the bands of wickedness, in undoing heavy 
burdens, letting the oppressed go free, in breaking 
even- yoke, in feeding the hungry and covering the 
naked/' and then, as God is true, "our light shall break 
forth as the morning, and our health, shall spring forth 
speedily, and our righteousness shall go before us, and 
the glory of the Lord shall be our rereward." 



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